P-43A-1 (China)

␗P-43A-1

␗P-40E-1

␗P-47D-23-RA

␗P-43A-1

␗P-40E-1

␗P-47D-23-RA

China

II Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
3.0	2.7	2.7

Class:

Fighter

Research:5 600

Purchase:22 000

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This page is about the Chinese fighter P-43A-1 (China). For American version, see P-43A-1.

Description

The ␗P-43A-1 is a rank II Chinese fighter with a battle rating of 3.0 (AB) and 2.7 (RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.91 "Night Vision".

General info

Flight performance

The P-43 was started as a private venture by the Seversky Aircraft Company (later known as Republic) which sought to improve upon its earlier fighter design the P-35. Several design changes turned this fighter into a good platform of which made the leap to the younger sibling, the P-47. The P-43 in its own right during 1940 when introduced to the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the only fighter which excelled at high-altitude performance due to its belly-mounted turbo-supercharger and an effective oxygen system to sustain the pilot at those heights.

Much like its predecessor and successor, the P-43 is a heavy fighter with a large engine which fills the role of a fighter/interceptor. Japanese aircraft at this rank can still outturn the P-43, but if used properly as a Boom & Zoom fighter, there should not be any need to turn fight. Priorities are to gain altitude and then be selective of the targets. Use diving speeds to zip in, shoot the enemy aircraft and then pull up and climb away. Resist the temptation of immediately turning back and finishing off an aircraft which was missed or wounded as doing so will only cause the P-43 to bleed energy it needs to work at its optimum. As a last resort, if caught in a situation where you need to dogfight, do so, but look for a way out so that you don't become easy pickings for another enemy pilot.

Characteristics	Max Speed (km/h at 7,600 m)		Max altitude (metres)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (metres/second)		Take-off run (metres)
	AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
Stock	546	531	9700	19.9	20.6	10.8	10.8	343
Upgraded	589	566		18.1	19.0	17.1	13.6

Details

Features
Combat flaps	Take-off flaps	Landing flaps	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
✓	✓	✓	X	X

Limits
Wings (km/h)	Gear (km/h)	Flaps (km/h)			Max Static G
		Combat	Take-off	Landing	+	-
760	281	450	450	241	~11	~8

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< 370	< 400	< 440	> 270

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
7,620 m	1,100 hp	1,199 hp

Survivability and armour

• 9.5mm steel plate behind pilot seat
• 38mm bulletproof glass, armoured windscreen

Critical components such as the pilot, engine and aircraft controls are clustered fairly close from the mid-fuselage to the nose. The aircraft also has fuel tanks located in the wings close to the fuselage which if ignited are quite difficult to extinguish.

Play to the P-43's speed and manoeuvrability to Boom & Zoom and avoid enemy fighters to get the upper hand, as the P-43 cannot take too many shells before a critical component fails, the pilot is knocked out, fuel fire burns the plane or a wing snaps off.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The P-43A-1 (China) is armed with:

• 2 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, nose-mounted (200 rpg = 400 total)
• 2 x 12.7 mm M2 Browning machine guns, wing-mounted (200 rpg = 400 total)

The P-43 features 4 x 12.7 mm Browning M2 machine guns all holding 200 rounds of ammunition, meaning that all guns fire at the same rate and will empty out at the same time. Although two of the machine guns are mounted in the nose cowl and are synced to fire through the propeller arch the other two guns are each mounted in the wings.

Having the wing-mounted machine guns will require the pilot to consider their convergence range with 200 – 350 m being the ideal distance, depending on what the pilot is comfortable with. If the pilot tends to fly right on the tail of the enemy aircraft, then a 200 m convergence can be devastating especially when catching the enemy in a banking climb. For those pilots who tend to be a little ways off when firing, then a convergence of about 300 – 350 should work best.

Usage in battles

P-43 pilots should climb at the beginning of a match. A climb angle of about 25 degrees should work fine. Aim to reach 4000 m before leveling out and gaining speed. Generally, the Lancer will be pitted against Japanese fighters.

The P-43 is a heavy hitter and can be used for both Boom & Zoom tactics or as a bomber hunter. While still a fairly manoeuvrable aircraft, it is suggested to avoid turn-fighting especially with Bf 109s and A6M Zeros which will dance around the P-43.

The four .50 calibre machine guns are the perfect platform for P-43 as a Boom & Zoom fighter. With diving speeds, the P-43 can race down and attack an enemy aircraft and then with full throttle can climb right back up to the perch where it was. Any enemy aircraft testing fate by climbing up after you, will most likely run out of energy and stall out, floating helplessly waiting for gravity to take over. At this point, the P-43 can rudder over with its large tail rudder and once again dive, but at this point will have a quite stationary target to eliminate. Once dispatched, the P-43 should climb right back up to its observation altitude and look for its next target.

One challenge of flying a fighter aircraft is the ability to climb higher altitudes to get to bombers. Many fighters simply do not have any superchargers or turbo-superchargers which allow it to continue to climb in the thinner air. The P-43 was outfitted with one such turbo-supercharger and therefore can easily get up to bomber altitude and pick off any pesky bombers orbiting ground targets. While the P-43 does not have any armour and can easily be disabled with a few machine gun rounds, it is advised to come at most bombers from the front, from above or from the side where many bombers tend to be the weakest in armament. It is important to attack critical components on the bomber such as the engines or the pilot as many bomber bodies and wings can easily soak up a large number of 12.7 mm rounds before systems begin to fail. As a bomber interceptor, it is important that you are attacking a bomber for the shortest amount of time possible because of their ability to shoot back.

For those aircraft which find themselves facing a P-43 in combat, head-on encounters can work to take out an engine or the pilot, but beware of the 4 x .50 calibre machine guns pointing at you, typically fire off some rounds at range and then take evasive manoeuvres setting up for an Immelmann or a Split-S right before or right after passing so to get your guns on target before the P-43 has a chance to manoeuvre or zoom away. If you are lucky to catch a P-43 pilot in a turn fight, maximize your turns with flaps and throttle control and it should not be long before you are in a situation where you have a firing solution and dispatch the aircraft. If you can bleed the P-43's energy, then there will not be many options left for that pilot and leave you holding all the important cards in the deck.

• The most dangerous enemies will be Ki-43s, A6Ms, Spitfires, P-40's, Bf-109's and Ki-61s.

The limited ammo means trigger discipline is important - something made a bit easier by the poor armour of those enemies. Use stealth belts. 400 m convergence is recommended, and you will want to wait until you are 0.5 km away to start firing. In a good pilot's hands, a P-43 can easily take out 5 enemy aircraft. However, if not played with a boom and zoom tactic, it is a sitting duck. The P-43 is a good plane for pilots the offers a great learning step towards the P-47.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Controllable	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Controllable Not auto controlled	Separate	Not controllable 1 gear	Auto controlled

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage repair	Radiator		Offensive 12 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings repair	Engine		New 12 mm MGs
IV		Engine injection	Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Efficient armament of 4 x .50 calibre Browning M2 machine guns
• Late Browning belts packs heavy firepower
• High red-line speed; 725 kph, does not compress too badly after 650 kph
• Decent energy retention for Boom & Zoom operations
• Excellent turn time, can turn with anything but biplanes and Japanese fighters
• Good performance at altitude thanks to a turbocharger
• Engine runs reliably during leaks
• Very durable

Cons:

• Long take off due to heavy aircraft
• Somewhat underwhelming climb rate
• Slow acceleration overall
• Extremely low ammunition count
• Overheats quickly, back off of WEP and don't run at 100% as needed
• Somewhat low roll rate

History

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Media

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See also

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• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

External links

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